Students construct paper sailboats and test the effect of different sail shapes, sizes, and construction methods to meet specific performance criteria. Friction, forces, the effect of surface area and design are some of the physical phenomena students encounter in this challenge.
Students join a design team and, with their team, build a skimmer in three steps. 
First, they build a hull using the Skimmer Hull Pattern and the instructions on Building the Skimmer Hull. 
Next, they make a stand to hold the skimmer's sail using a paper clip and the instructions on Making a Sail Stand.
Finally, they attach a 3 x 5 index-card sail to a drinking straw mast and mount the mast on the skimmer sail stand.
Design teams then test this skimmer in front of a fan and record data on its performance in their new Team Design Log.
The class looks for patterns in the relationship of sail characteristics, including shape, area, and location on the skimmer, and how these affect the distance the skimmer travels. Which characteristics seem to be related to the skimmer traveling far and straight? Which characteristics seem to be related to traveling a shorter distance? 
The class discusses whether there is a way to determine how the different sail characteristics account for the performance observed. How do the characteristics of sail size, shape, height, placement on the hull, or other characteristics the class may determine, interact to determine a skimmer's performance?
A World in Motion® skimmer curriculum was developed by SAE International to fuel enthusiasm for science and technology among school children from the elementary grades through high school.
